A 61-year-old Portland woman is headed to South Carolina state prison after authorities said she flew across the country with meth hidden in pill capsules, then handed balloons of the drug to an inmate during a weekend visit at a federal prison in Edgefield. Tracy Alic Rel was sentenced to 10 years on Tuesday, July 28, and will be transferred from the Edgefield County Detention Center to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
The case grew out of a March 2025 visit to FCI Edgefield, according to WYFF 4. Prison security personnel reportedly observed Rel acting suspiciously, passed her description to deputies and alerted the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office. Investigators later found her at a nearby hotel and recovered blue rubber balloons, methamphetamine and empty pill capsules, with the items considered consistent with contraband found inside the prison.
FCI Edgefield is a federal facility, not a South Carolina state prison, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons lists its physical address as 501 Gary Hill Road. The agency's visitor materials identify the facility as a prison for male inmates, making Rel's alleged handoff a visitor-to-inmate delivery during a scheduled visit.
Rel reportedly flew from Oregon to Atlanta before traveling to Edgefield, where she packaged methamphetamine into small rubber balloons and concealed the capsules inside vitamin bottles. She was convicted of methamphetamine trafficking in February and, after the case moved through court, received the 10-year sentence last week, as detailed by WYFF 4.
Recent South Carolina Cases Show Broader Contraband Problem
Rel's case is not the only recent South Carolina prison drug prosecution. In August 2025, the South Carolina Attorney General's Office said former corrections employee Jameelah Fortune received a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to methamphetamine trafficking, attempting to furnish contraband and conspiracy.
In March, The State reported that inmate Alicia Nicole Hicks was sentenced to 13 years after pleading guilty to trafficking methamphetamine, furnishing contraband and conspiracy connected to an effort to move drugs inside Camille Graham Correctional Institution. The separate cases show how prison drug investigations can involve visitors, employees and inmates alike.
What South Carolina Law Says About Prison Contraband
South Carolina Department of Corrections policy states that furnishing or attempting to furnish a prisoner with contraband is a felony punishable by one to 10 years in prison and a $1,000 to $10,000 fine. The policy specifically identifies drugs and controlled substances as contraband, while the Department of Corrections also requires searches of visitors and other people entering its facilities.
That state policy is separate from the federal visitation rules at FCI Edgefield, where the alleged handoff occurred. Rel is currently being held at the Edgefield County Detention Center and is expected to begin serving her sentence in the state prison system.
